Monday, September 17, 2007

Flying Solo

I got on late Saturday night after watching the first half of the Nebraska / USC game. I was really hoping Nebraska would make a game of it, but USC was just too strong for them. As the game got out of hand, I logged into WoW.

Much of Bloodsky was doing Arathi Basin while others were running a Kara. This was a different group from the one I had joined earlier in the week.

So, on a whim, I decided to see if could solo Scholomance for some Dark Runes.

Dark runes are one of my "secret weapons" as a Tankadin. I use them in place of banging a mana pot when I need some mana. Not only do I get mana from using the Dark Rune, but I also lose life, life that needs to be healed and getting healed gives me even more mana back. By definition, if I'm not taking enough damage to get enough mana to keep my threat cycle up, then I'm not taking enough damage to have another 600 to 1000 life put me in much danger.

The soloing did not go real well. There are a ton of caster mobs in there and their damage ignores all my lovely plate. I managed to snag a couple of Dark Runes and headed out.

I got a friend to group with me so I could form a Raid group and head back in Kara alone. Since we had downed Aran, I had Medivh's Journal. I needed to read the Journal on the Master's Terrace where we had fought Nightbane.

I made my way up to the Terrace. Because we killed Curator and Aran there was no trash to deal with. I read the book and watched the scene unfold between the dragon and Medivh. It was pretty cool. After the scene was over, the quest was complete and I needed to go turn it in. I casually walk outside the instance, only to be met by 20+ horde. Okay, maybe it wasn't quite that many, but there was more red on my screen than I could count. I manage to turn the quest in and get the follow up, which required me to retrieve a piece of dragon bone from outside the instance. I was able to sneak away from the Horde long enough to find the bone and then went back to turn it in. With some fast clicking, I was able to get the quest turned before I died.

Turning the quest in "dinged" me Exalted with the Voilet Eye! So I rezzed and picked my Exalted tanking ring:

Of course, I died again after turning in the quest. The Horde outside must have wondered what I was doing, but they didn't wonder too long as they killed me over and over again.

The next step of the quest took me to Netherstorm, so I hearthed out of Deadwin Pass and made my way to Netherstorm.

I was really happy to get my ring. I've also been working on my gold situation, and I'm up over 1200g for the first time, although I do need to buy some Primal Mana to get my Teir 4 Gloves enchanted.

On the guild front, I decided to app to Mal Katai, Face and Sevenn's guild. One of their officer's wants to run a Heroic with me to see if I know what I'm doing. He also wants to see what kind of "hybrid" I am. Am I not sure exactly what he means.

When I'm tanking, I'm not much of a hybrid. I'm a tank. I've devoted all my gear, talents and skills into becoming a tank. I gladly throw on the healing gear for Maiden or Aran, but you are not going to see that in a Heroic.

I feel pretty confident I can handle whatever they are going to throw at me. I'd prefer it be either Slave Pens or Botanica, because I know those two instances the best.

The officer who replied to my app mentioned they were going through some "tough times". I'm not sure what he meant by that. They've opened recruitment which tells me they may be having an attendance problem.

Bloodsky is doing a Gruul's/Mag on Saturday. Assuming I'm still in Bloodsky this weekend, I really hope I get a shot at doing that, but I have no idea what my Saturday will be like, or if they will take me. One option I have open to me is to stay in Bloodsky and go on these "farming" runs to Kara, Gruul and Mag. I could get "geared" up and see if they would start taking me to the bigger 25 mans. I still have the issue of not being able to get on at 7:30pm. So it may all be moot.

Looks like Heroes is going to be moving again soon. I'm not sure how close to two groups they are but it would be great to see those guys doing well again. They have some really good players in that guild. I'm confident that if Heroes ever decided to be a "raiding" guild, they would do very well.

I really hope I get this guild nonsense sorted out soon. Right now, I don't truly feel a part of any guild community, and that has taken some of the fun out of the game for me right now.